Barry watched as Caitlin walked further and further away from him. Something, in the pit of his stomach, told him to go after her, that something bad would happen if he didn't. But, he stayed behind, watching her retreating form. He clearly spent too many days at the precinct if he thought something bad was going to happen to Caitlin. Then again, he argued with himself, she had been kidnapped too many times to count. Had been left traumatized by a madman. Had lost her parents, much like him. So, yes, bad things did seem to happen to her. It still wasn't enough to make him go after her. Something he'd come to regret in the morning.

XXX

It was seven am when he received a phone call. Without looking at the caller ID, he answered it.

"Hello?" Barry mumbled groggily, stifling a yawn as he blinked his eyes open.

"Barry? It's Cisco," Cisco's wavering voice came across the line, a voice that had Barry sitting up automatically.

"Cisco, what's wrong?" Barry demanded, recognizing that tone of voice. It was his, "there's something wrong, and I really don't want to tell you, but also need to tell you so you can fix it", voice. He'd recognize it anywhere.

"It's Caitlin," he began haltingly, and Barry grasped the phone tightly in his hand.

"Cisco, what about Caitlin?" Barry asked lowly.

"She never made it home last night," he muttered, and Barry didn't have to work hard to hear how shaky his voice was. A leaden stone dropped into his stomach and sat there uncomfortably. He knew, he knew that he should've gone after her.

"What do we know?" Barry asked, swinging his legs out of his bed and standing up. He paused, waiting impatiently for Cisco to fill him in.

"Her car was run off the road. By the looks of it, she got into a crash. We don't know if she's hurt obviously, but we do know it was right on the outskirts of town," Cisco said.

"Metahuman?" Barry hurriedly asked, slipping on a t-shirt.

"We think so. It looked like whoever ran her off the road could manipulate time," he murmured, and that caused Barry to stop.

"How do you know that?" Barry demanded, and Cisco sighed.

"Because, as soon as we reached the crime scene, it was like we were transported back to last night. We watched the scene happening, without being able to stop it," he muttered, and Barry tried to wrap his mind around the fact that there was a metahuman who could manipulate time and kidnapped his best friend. Although, lately, she was something more than that, if he was being honest with himself. Sighing, he rubbed a weary hand over his face.

"Was she scared?" Barry whispered, heart clenching uncomfortably.

"Not from what we could see. She fought as hard as she could," Cisco said, and that made Barry smile proudly. Of course, she would fight. He said as such.

After talking for a few more moments, Barry clicked off the phone and raced to Star Labs, where everyone was, even Joe. When he reached them, he took in the way they were all huddled close to each other.

"What do we know? Anything?" Barry asked, looking at each of them in turn, but particularly Cisco. It looked like he hadn't got any sleep whatsoever, and he wondered just when he had realized she didn't make it home. Did Cisco call him hours later? That didn't make sense. Pushing the thought to the side, he watched them expectantly.

"We, meaning Cisco, Harry, and myself, watched our meta manipulate time. He replayed the kidnapping and we saw firsthand the fight Caitlin put up. She didn't go down easily, and with any luck, once we find her, we'll have some DNA for the forensics team to work with," Joe said and, again, there was that flush of pride Barry felt at the fact that she fought. And fought hard. He nodded.

"Now, from what we could see, the meta brought her to a warehouse on the edge of town. Only problem is there are multiple warehouses, so we don't know which exact one houses her," Cisco piped up, and again, Barry nodded.

"It won't be difficult to run through them all," Barry said.

"It will if he can manipulate time, Allen," Harry commented. Barry looked at him.

"C'mon Allen, you're smart. You know that if he can manipulate time, then he can fast forward, rewind, and pause time. He could have you looking in the same warehouse a hundred different times and you wouldn't even be aware of it," Harry insisted. Sighing, Barry conceded.

"You're right. We're just going to have to figure a way around that particular trick," he muttered. Cisco nodded his head.

"Now, we know she was kidnapped sometime last night," he began, and Barry raised a hand.

"You guys know the exact time she was kidnapped?" Barry asked, and watched as Cisco shifted around on the balls of his feet uncomfortably.

"I, uh, may know an estimated time," he mumbled.

Barry raised his eyebrows. "Which is?"

"Seven hours ago," Cisco muttered, and Barry's heart stuttered in its rhythmic beating.

"Then why I was I only told twenty minutes ago?" Barry demanded incredulously, folding his arms. Cisco lowered his head, and Barry looked at the other people in the room.

"Well?" Barry demanded, when it seemed like no one would answer him. Harry sighed.

"Because, Allen, we were specifically told to not tell you until seven hours later," Harry explained, and Barry stared at him.

"What does that mean?" Barry asked. Harry pulled something out of his back pocket and passed it to Barry. Looking at him a moment longer, Barry flipped open the piece of paper, realizing it was a note. After reading it, he sighed.

"The guy is playing a game of cat and mouse with us," he muttered darkly, fist clenching. The note left explicit instructions that to find Caitlin alive, the Flash needed be told seven hours after the rest of the team arrived on the scene.

"We didn't want to jeopardize her life, man," Cisco said lowly. Barry nodded once, fist still clenched. Just then, Joe's phone rang. Stepping away from them, he answered it. After a couple of moments talking, he came back to the team, looking at Barry.

"That was Captain, we need to get to the precinct," he said.

"Why?" Barry asked, wishing to not be doing anything else besides looking for his friend.

"Looks like our meta left the next note," he replied, and that was all Barry needed to hear to get him and Joe out of there.

XXX

"Hickory, dickory, dock. To find the mouse, stop the clock," Barry read, eyebrows furrowing.

"Any clue what it means?" David Singh asked, and he sighed.

"An idea," he muttered.

"Who's the mouse? Caitlin?" Singh asked, and he nodded.

"Yes, and he's the cat," he replied, staring at the note.

He looked at Joe.

"We need to get to the warehouses," he said, and Joe hummed in agreement.

"Let's go," he said.

XXX

By the time they reached the warehouses, Barry was starting to feel like he was in a horror movie. Pictures of Caitlin littered every surface of the warehouse. Some were of her at Star Labs, others at her apartment. Barry got the gist of what they meant the same time Joe did.

"Our meta has been stalking her," Joe said lowly.

"Cat stalking its prey," Barry said darkly. "Let's see how much the cat likes being stalked."

Joe nodded, and they crept into the first warehouse. It was void of anything but more pictures of Caitlin. Not wishing for his friend's face to be covered on every inch possible, he sped around, taking down all the photos.

"Not in this warehouse, next," Barry said lowly. They continued into every warehouse they came across, with Barry taking down more, and more pictures. It wasn't until the fifth warehouse did they find Caitlin. Sitting in a cage.

"Caitlin?" Barry called, running to her. She blinked, staring at him, unresponsive.

"Caitlin, can you hear me?" Barry asked, looking for a way to vibrate through the cage to get her out.

"She can't hear you, Flash," came a voice and Barry looked up. There was a man, middle age, and shorter than him, making his way towards him.

"What'd you do to her?" Barry asked quietly, seething.

"Call me Anthony," Anthony said. "And, nothing much. Just a little shocking treatment."

Barry took a deep breath, willing himself to not lose his cool yet. He needed to know why this man was after Caitlin.

"What did you need her for?" Barry asked, and Anthony smiled.

"You're about to find out, Flash," he murmured. He raised his hands, and Barry watched the world speed around them. It was like a video rewinding, but all around him. Blinking, he watched as Anthony was dragging Caitlin into the warehouse. She seemed to be unconscious. He then fast forwarded the time, and Barry was staring at Anthony, watching him taunt Caitlin. When he got to the part of him shocking Caitlin, Barry held his hands up.

"That's enough," he said firmly. "I've seen enough."

Anthony smiled again.

Joe spoke up just then, surprising Barry; he had forgotten he was in the warehouse with him.

"What's with the cat and mouse game, Anthony?" Joe demanded, gun raised.

"Hickory, dickory, dock. To find the mouse, stop the clock," Anthony whispered, and Barry clenched his fist.

"We found her, didn't we? No need to stop the clock," he said lowly. Anything clapped his hands once, and suddenly the cage was buzzing with electricity. Barry's heart clenched.

"Don't do this," he begged, not caring for one minute how desperate he sounded. His best friend was in that cage. She had already been shocked enough.

"Stop the clock, Flash," Anthony whispered. He clapped his hands again, and suddenly the warehouse was filled with Caitlin's heart-wrenching screams. Barry stood frozen for a few seconds, watching as she shook with the shocks. Then he came back to life, and sped towards Anthony, getting ready to punch him. Or, fling him across the room. Whichever. He didn't anticipate for time to start moving again. Suddenly, it was dark, and Barry was outside. He looked around as he spotted a car driving towards him. Darting across to the other side of the street, he watched as Caitlin turned a corner, narrowly avoiding hitting him. He ran after her car, desperate to catch up with her.

It was only a few seconds later that he heard another car and looked around: Anthony was tailing her. Just as he got ready to flash to Anthony's car, the time changed again. It showed Caitlin in the cage, and he watched in horror as Anthony shocked her. Caitlin's screams were mixed with Barry's, and he covered his ears, desperate to not hear them.

"Had enough, Flash?" Anthony called out, and he blinked. He was back in the present moment, with Joe crouching down next to him where he was huddled on the floor.

"Make him stop, Joe," he whispered, feeling very much like the frightened ten-year-old kid he was when thunderstorms shook Joe's house. Joe helped him stand up on shaky legs, and Barry took a deep breath.

"How do I stop the clock, Anthony?" Barry asked lowly, feeling pure hatred radiating through him at the sight of the other man. Anthony clapped his hand and the shocking stopped. Barry cut his eyes to Caitlin, who was breathing heavily.

"All you have to do is tell the world who you are, Flash," Anthony whispered. "There are cameras taping this and it is being aired on live television."

Barry was thinking fast. He couldn't take off his hood, but he couldn't risk Caitlin getting hurt, too. Nodding once, he braced himself.

"Alright," he said lowly. He lifted his hands, getting ready to drop his hood. Just as he was about to lower it, another thought came to him. He had about two seconds to outsmart Anthony at his own game.

"Hickory, dickory, dock. To find the mouse, stop the clock," he muttered. He looked at Anthony, then Caitlin, suddenly understanding. He could stop the clock. Taking a deep breath, he darted towards Anthony, catching him completely by surprise and punching him squarely in the face. He flew back several feet, skidding to a stop away from Joe and Barry. It was all Barry needed. He raced to him.

"To stop the clock, stop the cat," Barry whispered, grinning. Anthony looked at him.

"But to save the mouse, stop the clock and the cat," he said, grinning in turn. Barry looked at him, anticipating his next move. Just as he got ready to clap again, Barry grabbed his hands, locking them in the cuffs that he always carried when out on a mission. Anthony sat there, staring at them.

"What'd you do to me?" Anthony cried, trying, and failing, to change the time. Barry grinned victoriously and stood up.

"You're the mouse now," he said. He ran over to Caitlin, as Joe ran towards Anthony. Caitlin was blinking and breathing raggedly.

"Easy there," he murmured, vibrating the door of the cage off its hinges. As soon as he did, he was reaching for her the same time she was reaching for him. He pulled her into the safety of his arms, scanning every inch of her for any other signs of injury. Once he found none, he looked at her face, noting how exhausted she looked.

"Let's get you home," he murmured, and she shook her head.

"Wait one second," she said hoarsely. He watched her as she stalked towards Anthony. Without so much as a moment's hesitation, she punched him squarely in the face and Barry heard the satisfying sound of his nose crunching.

"If I could, I'd rewind time a thousand times just, so I could do that again," Caitlin said, before walking back towards Barry.

"Flash, get me the hell out of here," she said, and he did just that.

XXX

By the time Harry looked her over and deemed her well enough to go back home, Barry flashed her to her apartment. They found themselves sitting in her living room, drinking tea.

"How are you doing?" Barry asked softly, and she shrugged a weary shoulder.

"Tired, and out of it, but nothing too unmanageable," she murmured, hands shaking slightly as she took another sip. He knew it was from the shocks, though. Caitlin was never scared, a rarity he hadn't found in anyone else. She was just mad as hell when she fell victim to another rogue meta human.

"I'm proud of you, you know that?" Barry said quietly, and she looked at him, eyes earnest.

"Why?" Caitlin whispered.

"Because, you didn't show any fear. Not last night, and not today, while Anthony was torturing you," he said softly, and Caitlin smiled slightly.

"Never let them win," she murmured. She looked at Barry and he her before they began to hesitantly move towards each other. When their lips locked, Barry felt himself soaring through the clouds. When they broke apart a few moments later for air, he pulled her gently into his chest.

"How do you feel about meta humans who don't torture you?" Barry asked quietly, and her melodious laughter was all he needed to hear to know they were going to be just fine.

Fin.

Author's note: I really don't know what this is -shrug; It's just a prompt I had and made it into my own oneshot. Prompts accepted in comments. I have a few to get to. Enjoy. Xxx